


Book 4: Homecoming

by JayaLynne



Series: The Shape of Perception [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:07:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28650279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayaLynne/pseuds/JayaLynne
Summary: Friends are the family who choose you. (39-40 ABY) (Updated with Chapter 3)
Series: The Shape of Perception [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1929682
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Author note: This book contains periodic discussions of mental health and wellness. It is not meant to describe anyone specific or real, but it is meant to be realistic. It is not prescriptive as any one person's case will be different. But if it sounds like you or anyone you know, I encourage you to seek professfessional guidance.

"Well, he's on his way." Corran set his pocket communicator down on the diner table between him and a Tycho. "Should be here in about twenty minutes."

"This still doesn't make any sense to me," Wes said. "This doesn't sound like Luke at all."

Corran looked across the table at Wes and Hobbie. He and Tycho had spent the last half hour explaining their recent conversations with Wedge and Brianna. "I wouldn't have either if I hadn't been on the med center platform myself," Corran said. "Even then, I didn't really until Wedge basically yelled at me a couple days ago."

"But if something were that wrong we'd know," Wes said. "I mean, I know we don't see him much. But we've talked about that. We know how important all this is to him."

"But we didn't really check either," Tycho said. "That's part of what Brianna was annoyed about. What I want to know is why didn't Wedge say anything? This has been going on for _years_. We could have done something a long time ago."

"I got the impression he thought he had said something," Corran said. "At least as much as Luke would let him."

"I'm still not sure I know what the problem actually is," Wes said.

"I have an idea about that but I'll wait until Wedge gets here," Corran said. He looked at Tycho. "Has Winter ever mentioned anything to you? She must see him sometimes when he's here doing work for Leia."

Tycho shook his head. "Not until I asked her about it yesterday. She was as shocked as I was. She did say that sometimes Leia gets frustrated with him sometimes as if he's not doing enough -"

"Not doing enough?" Wes said. "He's _always_ busy."

"But she also said Leia doesn't really talk about that kind of thing to her anyway. She always used to talk to Mara about Jedi stuff."

"I definitely don't understand what that's about," Wes said.

"You probably don't want to," Corran said.

"I got the impression that was a clash of personalities," Tycho said.

"Brianna's personality clashes with everyone."

"I got along with her," Tycho said. "I bet Wes would get along great with her."

Wes looked up, intrigued. "Yeah?"

"She's weird and fun," Tycho said.

"She's also rude and sarcastic," Corran pointed out.

"To you, maybe."

"And to Mara."

"Maybe she's just like that to people who try to make her be something she isn't."

"I take it they argued a lot?" Hobbie said.

"All the time," Corran said.

"So what, Luke just let them argue?" Wes said.

"Pretty much," Corran said. "That's part of why Mara was so frustrated."

"From what Brianna said, I got the impression he wasn't around enough," Tycho said. He was so busy doing Jedi stuff that he couldn't be around his kids very much. And no one was helping out."

"But why didn't he _say_ something?" Wes said again. "We could have helped out."

"We can't really help out doing Jedi stuff," Hobbie said. "And he did tell Wedge."

"Who then didn't tell anyone."

Corran scratched at a stain on the table. When recounting his conversation with Wedge, he had omitted the part where Wedge had actually said something to him, even though he hadn't grasped the urgency of it at the time. "I don't think Wedge is going to want to place any blame even if there's enough to go around for a lot of people," Corran said. "He's just going to want to fix it."

Corran let silence fall on the table. The diner was mostly empty. The lunch crowd hadn't come in yet. He could understand Wes' confusion. He was still confused himself. He hadn't really done the conversation justice. Wedge had been so upset, and Corran just couldn't articulate it.

A few minutes later Wedge arrived and pulled up a chair at the end of their table. A server droid set down a cup of coffee in front of him. He looked at Corran and Tycho and nodded toward Wes and Hobbie. "You fill these two in?" he asked.

Corran nodded.

"Sort of," Wes said. "I still don't understand any of this. It makes no sense."

Wedge leaned forward on the table. "Well, it does and it doesn't," Wedge said. But, basically, over the past several years he's developed this really negative view of himself and everything else, so - and I'm not sure which came first - he thinks no one wants him around."

"No one?" Hobbie asked. "As in, everyone?"

"No, not everyone. I think. He sort of lumps everyone in together. He would never blame anyone specific. He would never blame anyone else at all. It's like he thinks that whatever is wrong must be his fault, so if no one wants him around, he must deserve it."

"But we've all seen him at different events, periodically," Wes said. "He's never said anything like that to the rest of us. He seems normal. I guess"

"I think he's afraid of what people would think of him if they knew how he felt. Or he's afraid people would feel like he was letting them down. So when he's out in public, he kind of puts on a show for everyone."

"But we're not the public!" Wes cried. "We're _us!_ "

"Well, what am I supposed to tell him?" Wedge said. "Every time he says he thinks no one wants him around, I try to argue, but it always sounds more like I'm trying to convince myself. It's not like I have any counter examples to give him. What can I say? 'Hey, remember that time, six months ago, when Wes called and said, hey let's hang out?' Because _that_ definitely didn't happen."

Corran watched Wes sink back into his seat like a scolded puppy. He almost thought Wes was going to start crying.

"We've always known how important doing this Jedi work is to him," Tycho said. "I know I've never wanted him to feel like I was pulling him away from it just to do something for me."

"But if we ever did need him, he always took time for us," Hobbie said.

"Of course he did," Wedge said.

"But that goes both ways. He knows that." Tycho looked around at everyone. "Doesn't he?"

"Maybe that's the problem," Hobbie said. "He's so used to being the one who helps everyone else, that needing help feels wrong."

"I think you may be on to something," Wedge said.

"But I still don't understand _why_ ," Wes said. "Why did this even start?"

Wedge took a sip of his coffee. "Well, some of this has been an issue for as long as I've known him," he said. He's always felt a need to _appear_ credible, as a Jedi, even if he didn't always _feel_ credible. Think about it. When we all first met him, none of us could have explained the first thing about Jedi or the Force or what any of that even means, even though we're all reciting phrases like 'May the Force be with you' and all that. We didn't know what we were saying. But it doesn't occur to anyone that he didn't know what any of that meant either. So he was literally trying to figure things out, knowing everyone else just _expected_ him to know everything. It always made him a bit anxious."

"You're talking about imposter syndrome?" Hobbie asked.

"Yeah, kind of," Wedge said. "A lot of the rest of it has been in the past ten years. Some things have gone wrong and now he sees only things that have gone wrong, no matter how much I remind him otherwise."

"No one gets everything right," Tycho said.

"I think he thinks that everyone else thinks he's supposed to," Wedge said. "If that makes sense."

"It doesn't," Wes said.

Wedge set his cup down looking frustrated. "Well, I don't know _why_ he started thinking that way. I'm not inside his head."

"I have an idea about that," Corran said. Wedge looked over at him, and Corran handed him a datapad he had brought along. "I was up early this morning, thinking about everything you had described for me the other day, so I did some searching on why someone might think like that. I'm not a doctor, but it seems to match."

Wedge took the datapad and scanned the top of the screen. He looked back up at Corran. "Persistent depressive disorder?"

"Read the rest of it. Go to the symptoms part."

Wedge scrolled down the page. "Let's see… symptoms… Depressed or irritable. Yeah, even if he tries to hide it. Sleeping too much or too little. He told me a couple years ago he wasn't sleeping much anymore. I'm sure that hasn't changed. He always looks tired. Eating too much or too little. I'm not around him enough to know what he eats. But every time I see him and he ought to be eating he isn't. Low self esteem. Definitely. Feeling hopeless. Yeah, and he'll hide that too. Trouble concentrating or making decisions. _I_ think so, but I'm sure he'd never admit it. At least two of these for the past two years? We're way past that point." Wedge sighed. "Yeah. You might be right." He handed the datapad back to Corran. "Can you send me that?"

"Sure."

"Something tells me he wouldn't agree to go to a doctor," Tycho said.

"I don't even know when the last time was that he went to a doctor for _anything_ ," Wedge said.

"Maybe suggest a regular check up trip," Hobbie said. "Just to get him in the door."

Wedge shook his head. "Even that would take asking several times. Over several months."

"So what are we supposed to do in the meantime?" Wes asked. "We can't wait around for him to say yes to something you think he doesn't want to do."

Wedge poked at his coffee cup. "I don't know. I mean, if I knew I would have done it already. Maybe I can get him to come out here more often. I live down the hall from Leia, so that should be an easy sell. Maybe start small, just a couple of us at a time. He's not back for a few days. I'll have to think about it."

Everyone at the table fell silent as Wedge pushed his coffee cup one centimeter back and forth.

"This is not going to be quick, is it," Hobbie finally said.

Wedge sighed and looked over at him. "No. It isn't."

* * *

Wedge looked up as his personal communicator dinged with an incoming call. He and Iella were due to meet Tycho and Winter for dinner in an hour. He was hoping they weren't canceling. He didn't recognize the number. He answered it as Iella stepped into the kitchen. "Luke!" he exclaimed as the hologram resolved. "Where are you? I wasn't expecting you back for at least another day."

"The meetings got done early," Luke said. "I stopped by Yavin on the way back and debriefed with Leia this morning. I was going to drop in and see you so I stopped by where I thought you lived…" Luke's voice trailed off.

"Oh! Yeah, we had to move," Wedge said. "Was barely a week ago. Definitely not planned."

"Where did you move to?"

"We're...we're actually down the hall from Han and Leia's apartment. It was Jaina's idea. You said you stopped by Yavin?"

"The empty apartment at the end of the hall?" Luke asked. "I, yes, I did stop by Yavin first."

"Brianna didn't tell you what happened?" Wedge asked. _Of course she didn't._

Luke frowned slightly. "She told me the same thing she always tells me whenever I ask if anything interesting happened. 'Nah.'" He gave Wedge a resigned half-shrug.

"Wait, she told you _what_?" Iella said. She peered over Wedge's shoulder. "What did she tell you?"

Luke's frown got a bit deeper. "She told me nothing interesting happened. But she says that no matter what anyway. I just ask out of habit."

Iella's jaw dropped. "Really? She didn't tell you _anything?_ "

Luke shook his head. "She never does."

Iella glanced at Wedge. "You need to come to dinner with us," she said.

"What? No it's -" Luke started to politely protest.

Iella walked over to the counter to get her own communicator. "No, you must," she said. "We've already got reservations with Tycho and Winter. Oh, we're going to need Corran and Mirax too, Corran will have to explain most of this." She started punching in their number.

Wedge looked back at Luke. His eyes were slightly wide and Wedge could tell he was just slightly starting to panic. "You want to come to dinner with us?" he asked. A large group was not what Wedge had in mind, but it might be too late. He could tell Luke was torn between wanting to say yes and his anxiety-driven inclination to not want to intrude on anyone. Wedge nodded at him.

"Well...okay," Luke said.

"She said _what_?" Wedge glanced over at Iella as he heard Mirax's exclamation.

"The reservation is over at the Renegade Run in section 39. Can you find it? The reservation is in Tycho's name for an hour from now."

"I can find it."

"Great. I'll let him know you're on your way." Wedge disconnected and started to put in Tycho's number. He hoped this would go better than expected.

* * *

Tycho sat in the middle of a long table set for seven, with Winter next to him while they waited for everyone else to arrive. The restaurant was busy, but their party was big enough to be slightly sectioned off from the rest of the diners. He was a bit surprised Luke had said yes to this, given everything Wedge had explained the other day. He was hoping Luke would arrive first.

As if on cue, Tycho could see Luke coming through the crowded tables, led by the host droid. Tycho waved his hand and caught Luke's attention. Luke thanked the droid and walked over to the table. "You sit there," Tycho said, pointing to the empty seat directly across from him.

"Is there assigned seating?" Luke asked as he sat down. The server droid poured him a glass of water.

"Sort of," Tycho said. "Corran and Wedge will probably do most of the talking, so I figure they can sit on either side of you."

Luke nodded. "Ah. That makes sense."

Tycho frowned. Luke seemed a bit uncomfortable. "Did Brianna really not tell you what happened a few days ago?"

Luke shrugged. "She never does. If anything interesting did happen I usually hear about it from Leia later, about some Councilor that complained about this, or some ambassador that complained about that. So I do hear about it."

Tycho glanced at Winter. "What about the interesting things that are good?" he asked. He could think of a dozen different things he'd heard about in just the last month that might have been interesting.

Luke blinked at him then glanced around the table. "Oh," he said. "I...guess I don't hear about those."

"Oh." _Because no one calls you…_

Winter cleared her throat. "How was your trip?" she asked. "I heard some of the debriefing details, but how did you like it?"

"Oh, it was very good," Luke said, seemingly more comfortable with that question. "The Chitarans are interested in joining the Republic so they wanted to know how everything operates. They have a lot of elaborate meal ceremonies, so that took up some time."

"Was the food good?" Tycho asked.

""Very good. Lots of seafood and vegetable dishes."

Tycho nudged Winter. "You should get in on that for the next trip so I can go."

Winter threw him an amused look. "I don't think it works that way," she said.

"It should," Tycho said.

Wedge and Iella came up to the table. Wedge put a hand on Luke's shoulder as he slid into the chair to Luke's right. "Glad you made it," he said. "I hope you weren't waiting long."

"No, I just got here," Luke said as Iella sat down across from Wedge on Tycho's other side.

A moment later, Corran and Mirax also appeared. Corran took the seat on the other side of Luke, across from Winter, and Mirax sat next to him at the end chair. Corran nodded to Luke in greeting, and Luke nodded back. Tycho noticed that Luke was sitting much straighter and much more stiffly. It wasn't entirely unusual. Tycho had seen Luke sit like that at formal events he'd attended when he had to talk with councilors and ambassadors. But, this wasn't that kind of event…

"Luke was just telling about the food on his trip," Winter said.

"Seafood and vegetable dishes," Luke repeated.

"Ohh, that sounds good," Iella said as the server droid set menus in front of them. "Think they let retired generals in on that?"

"I don't think that's how it works," Wedge said.

The server droid took their drink orders, starting with Iella and moving to Tycho, around the table. Wine, whiskey, more wine, ale, and another whiskey.

"Just water, thank you," Luke said.

 _Oh, I'd forgotten again,_ Tycho thought. He would have ordered water too, if he'd remembered. He hoped Luke wouldn't feel left out, then Wedge ordered water too.

Iella engaged Winter and Mirax in some mundane small talk while they looked over the menus and waited for their drinks. After the server droid came back with their drinks and took their orders, Wedge cleared his throat. "So, you might have heard something happened," he said to Luke.

"I did hear that," Luke said. "Though, not from Brianna."

"Yeah." Wedge looked at Corran. "Do you want to start or should I?"

"Ah, I'll start," Corran said.

Tycho watched Luke carefully as Corran started the story. Tycho had heard most of the beginning already. Luke looked like he was trying not to show too much emotion, but he did nod appreciatively at Jaina's intervention at the old apartment building. On the other hand, he looked like he was trying to hold back a sigh and a shake of his head while Corran was describing their late night call to Brianna. Tycho had thought the 'thrilled to be your third choice' comment was funny, though, he supposed he might not have, had he been there.

Tycho couldn't help noticing that some of Brianna's more obnoxious behavior that had been described to him earlier was being cut from this version. Luke could probably fill that in for himself.

Iella interjected a bit as Corran described Brianna's arrival. "Anton thought she was fascinating," Iella said as the food arrived.

"She can talk quite a bit when she's on a topic she finds interesting," Luke said.

"I noticed! She's quite knowledgeable. I was impressed. She talked all about training through dinner and on the way up to the apartment that evening."

"That is one of her favorite topics," Luke said. Luke paused slightly as he turned back toward Corran. Tycho saw Wedge motioning to Corran to move it along.

Corran skipped ahead to the next morning, describing the explosion at the Rogue Squadron bay, picking up Jaina, and Brianna running off to meet Cami at the port. "Cami wasn't very detailed about what happened," Corran said, "just that she got jumped by three of the fake security agents, Brianna intervened, and sent Cami back to meet us. I imagine it's about the same thing that happened to Tycho though."

Luke looked at Tycho. "What happened to you?"

"Pretty much the same thing," Tycho said, "except it was six fake agents. I'm not sure who found me first, her or them, but I know she followed us all for a while. She waited until they jumped me before intervening."

"Why?"

"I think she was testing something?" Tycho looked at Corran.

"Yeah, she was testing the idea that, even if we couldn't sense threats the normal way, we could still sense other people's reactions to threats. But, you had to know the other person fairly well for the reaction to penetrate."

"Oh, I see," Luke said. "Very interesting. So she sensed your reaction instead."

"Well, no, not exactly," Tycho. "She sensed Cami's reaction, but not mine. I guess, you know, she doesn't know me well enough." Luke frowned. "But it was fine," Tycho waved it off. "No one got hurt. Well, I imagine those fake agents were a bit sore and embarrassed later. But we had a really interesting, wide ranging conversation on the way back. She's good to talk to."

Luke held his frown. "What...what did you talk about?"

"Oh. Um, just, more training stuff." Tycho thought quickly. "She was explaining how Jedi training works compared to how it was done under the Old Republic. Interesting stuff."

Luke nodded. "You always did like history."

"After they got back," Corran said, "we started putting all these ideas together. Brianna thought that the fact that we could still sense reactions to threats meant there might be other imperfections we could identify. So we started testing it with some sparring. This is where it got really interesting. It turned out that, even though you couldn't sense a threat directly, as soon as a threat started to interact with your threat perception, it got fuzzy and distorted. You had to be paying attention to it though, or looking explicitly for it. But that way, you could identify it and still see it before it was right on top of you."

Luke nodded. "I've never heard of anything like that before."

"Me either," Corran said. "Once we practiced for a while, it became easier to pick it up. While we were doing the raids -"

"You skipped the whiskey cookies," Iella said.

"What? No one cares about whiskey cookies," Corran said.

"It was the only good idea you had."

Corran grumbled and turned back to Luke. "Brianna said she had an idea how to find the source of the disruption, so while we were getting ready to leave, Brianna said she wanted to take Jaina with her. I suggested she take Cami instead so we could, you know, spread our skill sets out. Which Brianna inelegantly called lifting rocks. But she agreed to the switch. I asked if I could get credit for my idea. I was kidding. But she asked, 'Oh what do you want, a cookie?', and then made an off-hand remark to Cami about making whiskey cookies."

"Oh," Luke said.

"Who puts whiskey in cookies, anyway?"

Luke cocked his head to the side just slightly. "Isn't ryshcate cake with whiskey?" he asked.

Corran opened his mouth, then turned to look at Mirax. She nodded. He turned back to Luke. "Yes. Yes, it is." Corran recollected himself. "Anyway -"

"Did you get a cookie?" Luke asked.

"I - no."

"If we hear about it later, we'll tell you about it though," Tycho jumped in, earning him a quick glare from Corran.

" _Anyway_ ," Corran said, trying to regain control of the story, "being able to sense the distortions was actually very effective while we were raiding the fake security networks. And about an hour after we finished, Jaina and I noticed that the disruption was gone too."

"What did they do?" Luke asked.

"Well," Corran hesitated. "We're actually not entirely sure. It was another couple of hours before they came back, Brianna complaining about not having had breakfast. She refused to stick around and Cami was short on details. She explained that they found the location adapting how you might normally experience the kind of threat they were looking for to a distortion, which was pretty interesting. But I'm still not sure what exactly they did to dismantle it."

"They did bring us those datapads," Iella said.

"Yeah, they found a small stack of datapads. Apparently these people call themselves Vir-Shat. Don't suppose you've heard of them?"

Luke frowned. "No. That's not -" he glanced back at Wedge.

"No, not the same," Corran said. "Too bad, I was kind of hoping it would be. Could be related though."

"If they pop up again, we'll know though," Iella said.

Corran leaned back in his chair. "So. That's what Brianna calls 'nothing'."

Luke sighed. "She's always an adventure."

* * *

Tycho waved at Wedge, Luke, and Iella as the rest of them split off to walk home. No had been interested in dessert so dinner ended not too long after Corran finished his story. Luke hadn't asked too many other questions. It had been a rather reserved evening.

"That didn't seem too bad," Corran said when they were out of earshot.

"Much better than I expected, for sure," Mirax said.

Tycho shook his head. "No, it was worse."

"Worse? How?"

"He was so uncomfortable," Tycho said. "I've seen him like that at major events, you know, talking to dignitaries and diplomats." He looked at Winter. "You've seen him."

Winter nodded. "Mm. Proper. Reserved. Professional."

"And you expect him to be like that at major events. But not on a normal night out with friends."

"Maybe that's just how he is," Mirax said. "When was the last time you had dinner with him?"

Tycho sighed. "Ages. But that's just the point. When was the last time _any_ of us had dinner with him, or just hung out and got coffee?"

"But we asked," Mirax pointed out. "Or Corran did. That's what started this whole thing."

"Yeah, but Wedge's point was that he won't say yes if he thinks we don't actually want him around," Corran said. "So it becomes a bit of a vicious cycle."

"Wedge did say this wouldn't be easy," Tycho said.

* * *

"What do you think?" Wedge asked as they walked back to the senate apartment building. Luke had been very reserved throughout dinner, as Wedge had expected.

Luke looked at him as if unsure what Wedge was referring to. Truthfully, Wedge was leaving the topic up to him. Luke seemed to decide it was easiest to talk about Brianna. "She's always been a very analytical person," he said.

"I noticed that," Iella said. "She always wants to have evidence of things. And she likes physics analogies."

"She's never been interested in the more mystical aspects of the Force. She thinks that's boring." Luke turned back to Wedge. "What was the part you made Corran skip?"

Wedge hesitated. He was hoping Luke hadn't noticed that. "What part?"

"It was in the middle somewhere," Luke said. "Right before they went to the Rogue Squadron bay, I think." Iella giggled. "That part," Luke added.

Wedge sighed, realizing he was probably stuck. "It wasn't that important," he said.

"It was nine years ago, you might as well tell him," Iella said.

"What was nine years ago?" Luke asked.

Wedge resigned himself to telling the story and turned back to Luke. "It was the night before they went to the bay. We were in the hall walking to the new apartment. Brianna was about to go into your apartment when she asked me if you had ever given me a key to that apartment."

Luke frowned. "I'm pretty sure I've never given you a key."

"Well, no," Wedge said. "But I remembered _she_ had given me a key. Which she found delightful and then disappeared into the apartment, leaving me to explain this ridiculous story to these three." He pointed to Iella.

"Which was nine years ago?"

"You remember when Leia's treasure box was made public and you and she had to give that senate testimony? Then we got R2's story, and we hung out for a bit that night?"

"Yes."

"The next morning, I went back up to Leia's apartment to look for you, but you weren't there."

"Yes, we left early that morning, I think," Luke said.

"I was standing by the door waiting, and I heard a voice behind me. 'Oh, they're not here.' I turn around, and there's Brianna."

"I remember her asking me if she could come along, and I told her no."

"I said, 'What are you doing here?' She said, 'Technically I live here.' And you hadn't mentioned her to me, so I said, 'Does your dad know you're here?' 'No.' 'How did you get here?' 'The shuttle.' 'Your dad's shuttle?' 'Uh huh.' 'Did you _stow away_?' 'Uh huh.'" Wedge paused to glance up at Luke. If it was possible to look both reserved and horrified, Luke was managing it. "I said, 'Are you supposed to be here?' And she said, 'Well, if I was supposed to be here, I wouldn't have needed to stow away, would I?'"

"I hate it when she does that," Luke said.

"Then she asked me if I had a key. I said, 'A key to what?' 'A key to this apartment.' 'No.' She says, 'Why not?' I said, 'Why would I have a key to this apartment?' Then she looked at me like I was stupid and said, 'Why would you NOT have a key to this apartment?' I said, 'I don't have a key.' Then she rolled her eyes, called you a delinquent and pulled me in to give me a key."

Wedge paused to take a breath. Luke was frowning at the ground while taking all of that in. Wedge assumed he was trying to decide which question to ask first.

"Do you still have it?"

"Show him," Iella said.

Wedge pulled a set of keys out of his pocket. "It's this one," he said, holding on to one of the cards.

"Have you ever used it?" Like asked.

"No, I have not ever used it."

"Why didn't you tell me about that?"

"Well, because," Wedge put the keys back in his pocket, "you know, you were busy." Luke frowned at him. "I didn't want to get her into trouble," Wedge said. Luke continued to stare at him. "I figured if she could stow away once, she could do it again," Wedge finished.

"How did she manage that?"

"I didn't ask her," Wedge said, realizing Luke was mostly asking himself.

"And I had R2 with me, he must have known she was there."

"I didn't ask him either."

"I think it's fascinating," Iella broke in.

"That she gets away with things?" Luke asked.

"Yes! _Everyone_ complains that she gets away with things, but every time you turn around, those same people are letting her get away with something new. It's so intriguing."

"That's her intel brain coming out," Wedge said to Luke.

"I'm a trained investigator and intelligence officer. It's my job to understand people."

"If you figure her out, let the rest of us know," Wedge said.

"I'm working on it," Iella said with a small smile.

* * *

The elevator door opened to their hallway and Wedge stepped aside so Iella and Luke could get off first. Iella had filled most of the rest of the walk back with small talk questions about Luke's trip, which he seemed much more comfortable discussing. Halfway down the hall, Luke started to reach for Leia's apartment door. Wedge tugged gently on his sleeve. Luke hesitated a moment, then followed them the rest of the way down the hall. At their own door, Iella let herself in. "See you in a bit," she said.

Wedge glanced at Luke and then walked over to lean against the railing along the floor to ceiling window at the end of the hall. "People have been trying to convince Iella to move for years," he said. "She wasn't too happy about it at first, but she warmed up to it as we got moved in. And the view is great."

Luke joined him at the railing. "You can see the sunrise from this side."

"We're thinking of putting a couch right there," Wedge said, pointing behind him.

"That would be very nice."

Wedge nodded. This wasn't exactly how he had envisioned this. He had been hoping for a slower start. "So, what do you think?"

"What about this time?"

"I don't know. Dinner."

"It's a very good restaurant," Luke said.

"Right? We should do it again some time."

Luke stared at him for a moment, as if unsure what Wedge was referring to. "Well," he said finally, "I'm sure Brianna has no shortage of adventures she hasn't shared."

"It doesn't have to be about her," Wedge said. "We could just...go."

"Who?"

"Us. All of us. Some of us. More than just you and me, I mean."

Luke turned away and sighed. "Wedge, we've talked about this. No one wants me there."

"Luke, that's not true. Everyone wanted you there. This wasn't even my idea, remember?"

"To tell me a story my daughter thought not important enough to tell me herself."

"Or, maybe," Wedge suggested, "she didn't tell you because then we could." Luke frowned at him as if that was not something he had considered before, but sounded unlikely. "Everyone wanted you there," Wedge said again.

"You can't make people do things they don't already want to do."

"I didn't make anyone do anything."

"I think you underestimate how influential you are sometimes."

"Well, either I can't make people do things, or I'm highly influential, but I can't be both," Wedge said. "Not for the same people at the same time." Luke blinked at him. Wedge realized Luke had probably held those same two thoughts in his head for years without ever catching the inconsistency.

"Nobody would want me there," Luke said again, as if that resolved the discrepancy.

Wedge sighed. He wasn't going to win this one tonight, and direct arguing never worked anyway. He changed topics. "Why didn't you tell me what happened on the med center platform?" he asked.

"The what?"

"When you stopped by the apartment before you left," Wedge said. "You explained the rest of the story. Why didn't you tell me what happened on the platform?"

"You mean when we dropped you off?" Luke asked.

"Yes."

Luke shook his head. "Nothing happened on the platform."

Wedge looked closely at Luke. "When Corran came up to talk to you?" he prompted.

Luke shook his head again. "Corran didn't come talk to me."

"I -" Wedge stopped. Something wasn't right. "He said he did."

"No, he didn't," Luke insisted.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. He…" Luke trailed off as he turned away, thinking. "He did. He did come up to me."

"Right," Wedge said, trying to prompt him again.

"We were waiting...no, they'd already taken you in. I was waiting for...something. He came up, I think? He said…" He looked up at Wedge, starting to look concerned. "I can't remember what he said."

" _At all?_ "

Luke paused again. "What did he say? Did he say something and then something happened, is that what you were asking me?"

"Wait, hang on, let me think about this." The way Corran had described it, it sounded pretty traumatizing. And if Corran had thought so, surely Luke must have found it so too.

"Wedge, _what happened?_ "

Wedge shook his head and held his hands up. "No, wait, I think we need to slow down here."

"Wedge, it's one thing to not tell me something about you, or some crazy thing Brianna did, but this is different."

"No, Luke, I think I should wait -"

"I didn't hurt anybody, did I?"

"What?" Wedge stopped short. Luke was looking at him, almost pleading. "What, no. No, no." Wedge gave Luke a hug. "No, no one got hurt. Nothing like that." He felt Luke relax just a little. _I guess that's more or less true,_ Wedge thought, even as he remembered that Corey's kids had started crying when it happened. He pulled away and held on to Luke's shoulders. "Listen, if you can't remember it, there's probably a reason. So, let's not rush into it. We can figure it out first. Just, trust me on this one, okay?" Luke looked at him skeptically. "Please?"

Luke stared at him for a moment before answering. "Okay."

Wedge noticed that Luke suddenly looked completely exhausted. Another thought occurred to him. "What time did you land this morning?"

"I don't know. Zero seven hundred, maybe."

No wonder he looked exhausted. "You should probably get some sleep." Wedge led Luke back down the hallway to Leia's apartment. As Luke reached for the door, Wedge stopped him. "You should stay for a few days."

"Hm?"

You were going to go back to Yavin tomorrow, right? You should stay for a few days."

"For what?" Luke asked.

"Just to stay. To hang out. Nothing is going on on Yavin. Nothing she's going to tell you about, anyway."

"Thanks for reminding me."

"So, you should stay."

Luke frowned at him. Wedge nodded. Luke glanced away, and then back. "Okay," he said, finally.

"Great," Wedge said. "I'll see you tomorrow." After Luke disappeared into Leia's apartment, Wedge walked back to his own. He rubbed his hands over his face, trying to keep his mind clear and calm, even as he realized this was going to be more difficult than he'd anticipated. Luke could sense his emotions over parsecs. Down the hall would be no problem at all.


	2. Chapter 2

Luke stepped away from the coffee shop line in the lobby of the senate apartment building. The lobby was relatively empty that morning, which suited Luke. He wasn't really in the mood to talk to anyone. He hadn't slept much - less than usual - even though he'd been tired. Wedge's revelation had kept him awake. Or rather, his lack of revelation. Luke would be the first to admit that Wedge's judgement and track record for being right were far better than his own. And Luke certainly knew Wedge would never lie to him. Still, it was a bit disconcerting.

"Luke!"

Luke set his cup down on a nearby counter and turned around just in time for Wes to come running up and throw his arms around Luke in a big hug. Luke took half a step back to balance himself. He was definitely awake now. "Wes!"

Wes pulled back with a big grin on his face. "I didn't know you were here! Wedge said you weren't getting back until later today or tomorrow."

Luke fought to keep his face passive. What was Wedge telling everyone? "I got in yesterday morning," he said. "I did some debriefing with Leia and then I went to dinner with Wedge and Corran and Tycho." Luke paused. "Apparently my daughter had a bit of an adventure."

"Oh yeah," Wes laughed. "I heard about that. Wasn't involved. But I heard about it. Crazy stuff."

"Yeah." _What else have you heard about?_ Luke wondered. He decided to change the subject. "What are you doing over here? And where's Hobbie?"

Wes waved dismissively. "Ah, some organization wanted a retired pilot to come talk to them about pilot stuff. Or something. I drew the short stick. Hobbie owes me a beer."

"Sounds like Hobbie got the better deal," Luke said.

"I keep trying to get them to demote me so I don't have to do this stuff. I bet Flight Officers don't do this stuff."

Luke nodded and started to smile. "I always wondered what the pension was like for a Flight Officer."

Wes opened his mouth, then shut it again. "I didn't think about that."

Luke's smile got a bit bigger. "Looks like you're stuck being an adult."

Wes sighed and hung his head in mock disappointment. "They never want to know about the _fun_ stuff either. It's all boring stuff."

"Colonel Janson!" someone called.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" Wes called back. "Hey, how long are you here for?" he asked.

"What?"

"I mean, you're not going back to Yavin _today_ , are you?"

"No," Luke said, feeling his suspicion return. "Wedge asked me to stay around for a couple of days."

"Great!" Wes said. "You guys should come get coffee with us tomorrow."

"What? Oh, well, I'm not- "

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you should- "

"Colonel Janson!"

"Yeah, I'm coming! Listen, I'll give Wedge a call later, I know the best spot - "

"Colonel Janson!"

"Gotta go, see you tomorrow!"

Wes waved and darted off back toward his escort. Luke watched them disappear into the sparse crowd toward an area designed for conferences and meetings. Luke took a small sip from his coffee cup, thinking again that Wedge was up to something.

* * *

As Luke walked down the hallway towards Leia's apartment, he could sense some irritation in her. He frowned and concentrated. Wedge was also in the apartment. Luke allowed himself a small sigh. He hoped they weren't arguing again. He'd lost count of how many times he'd told Wedge not to argue with her.

Luke opened the door, walked through the foyer, and into the eat-in portion of the kitchen. Wedge snapped around in his chair to look at him. "You don't have to stop talking about me just because I walked in," Luke said.

Wedge turned back to Leia. "You were supposed to tell me when he was coming."

"I _did._ "

" _Sooner._ "

Leia rolled her eyes. "How's the coffee line?" she asked, looking at Luke.

"Short," he said. "It's pretty sparse down there." He turned to Wedge. "I saw Wes."

"You did?" Wedge seemed to catch himself. "I didn't arrange that."

"No, I didn't think you did," Luke said. "That would be fairly impressive, even for you."

"Thanks?"

Leia grabbed a datapad off the counter. "I'm going to work," she said as she headed for the door. "Han is in the hangar so don't leave the door open if you leave." She pointed at them. "And stay out of trouble."

"We're not going to get into any trouble," Wedge said.

"Famous last words!" Leia called back.

Luke heard the door swoosh shut behind her. He turned back to Wedge. "I really didn't arrange it," Wedge said again.

"How many other people know about this?"

Wedge paused. "About what?"

"About...what you said last night," Luke said.

"Did...Wes say something?"

"Well, no. Not about that. But he did seem to think I wasn't getting back until tomorrow, so someone said something to him."

"Oh." Wedge scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, well, everyone on the platform knew."

Luke frowned, trying to remember who that was.

"And everyone at dinner last night. And Leia. And Jaina."

Luke frowned harder. That was more people.

"And Wes. And Hobbie."

"So everyone else gets to know, but I don't."

Wedge shook his head. "No, it's not like that. Everyone was concerned - are concerned. We were just trying to figure out why it happened."

"It," Luke repeated. Wedge shrugged. Luke let out a small sigh. This was exhausting.

"Did Wes say anything else?"

"He said we should get coffee with him and Hobbie tomorrow."

"That's a great idea!" Wedge said, looking up. "We should definitely do that."

"He said he would call you later."

"Perfect. Yeah, that's perfect." Wedge pulled out his pocket communicator and started typing something into it.

Luke watched him for a moment. He was getting the nagging suspicion that all of this was related.

Wedge looked up. "Let's go for a walk."

"A walk where?" Luke asked.

"I don't know. Anywhere. Wherever you want. When was the last time we took a whole day and just hung out?"

"I- " Luke started to say he didn't know, then actually tried to think of the last time. He couldn't.

"I'll give you a hint," Wedge said as he put his communicator back in his pocket. "Hoth Base."

"What?" Luke said, genuinely surprised. "That can't be right."

"It is. And that was all work." He tugged on Luke's sleeve. "Come on."

Luke hesitated. "Well- "

"Unless you want to stay cooped up in here all day."

Luke glanced around the empty apartment. "Let's go for a walk."

* * *

Wedge waved as he saw Wes waving them over from their seats on the outside deck of the coffee shop. He took a quick glance at Luke. Wedge had assumed that Luke would feel more comfortable in smaller groups than larger groups. But he actually seemed more nervous - though hiding it - now than he had been going to dinner the other night. He'd have to think about that more.

Wedge slid into the seat across from Wes and Luke took the seat across from Hobbie. "I didn't know this place existed," Wedge said.

"We come here all the time," Wes said. "The coffee is great, the desserts are even better. Sometimes groups have parades and celebrations and they go right past here," Wes waved out to the open area. "If you sit right by the wall you can get a really good view. They have them all the time."

"I think there's one in a couple of months," Hobbie said.

"Ooh, you guys should come with us, that'll be fun," Wes said.

Wedge glanced over at Luke, who appeared to be trying to hide some skepticism behind a menu pad. Luke peered over the pad to look at Wes. "Coffee art?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, that's what this place is known for," Wes said. "You can get regular coffee, but if you get with the foamy milk, they'll make pictures with it. Most of it is hearts and stuff, or abstract designs, but they can make other things too, if you ask."

"The lothcat is the best," Hobbie said.

"Yeah, the lothcat is really good," Wes said. "I asked them to make a TIE fighter once, and they actually did it."

Wedge cocked his head at Wes. " _Why_ would you ask for a TIE fighter?"

" _Because_ ," Wes said, "they do look kind of cool _and_ when you drink it, it's like destroying another TIE fighter! You can take out this engine first, or that engine. Or go straight for the cockpit," he said, gesturing. "See how fun that is!"

"That's ridiculous," Wedge said.

"That's because you're not any fun," Wes said. "See look," he said, pointing, "Luke gets me."

Wedge glanced over, and Luke did indeed have a bit of an amused smile on his face. Wedge sighed and shook his head.

"See? Luke's _always_ my best audience," Wes said. "Hey, I bet they'd make you a lightsaber, if you wanted."

"Huh?" Luke said.

"Put a little food coloring on it, make it green. I bet they'd do that if you asked."

"No, I don't think so -"

"That sounds fun though, I might do that next time."

Wes was interrupted by the server droid. "Good afternoon gentlepersons. What may I get for you today?" It looked at Hobbie first.

"Coffee art," Hobbie said. "With a lothcat."

It turned to Wes next. "Coffee art, with a TIE fighter."

"Oh, it's you again.

Wes grinned. "I'm popular here," he said.

"Yeah, I bet you are," Wedge said. It was his turn. "Just regular coffee," he said.

"Just regular coffee for me too, thank you," Luke said.

After the serving droid left, Wes launched back into his steady stream of chattering, with an occasional word dropped in from Hobbie, barely pausing when the droid returned with their drinks. If Wedge hadn't known better, he would have called it stream of consciousness. Wes had that rare gift of being able to read people and then modulate his weirdness. There was no one better at breaking a bit of tension. And Wes hadn't been wrong. For as long as Wedge had known them, Wes had never failed to get Luke to crack a smile. And every time Wedge glanced over at him, Luke looked like he was trying to maintain some kind of dignified amusement, and only mostly succeeding.

Even two hours later, on the way out, Wes was still at it. "We'll do dessert next time, you should come with us next time there's a parade. The chocolate cakes are really good. Oh, hey, I bet they'd put a green lightsaber on a cake for you."

"No, I don't think so -"

"That sounds like fun though, maybe I'll do that next time."

"Bye Wes," Wedge said. Hobbie waved as they walked off in the other direction.

"Yeah next time, for sure!" Wes said, and waved as he ran to catch up with Hobbie.

Wedge let out a breath as he and Luke turned a corner. "He wears me out."

"Remember you had that idea to make them wingmates to see if they'd even each other out?" Luke said.

"Yeah, it didn't work."

"No…" He looked at Wedge. "Just as well."

Wedge smiled back. "Yeah, that's for sure."

* * *

Luke and Wedge stepped off the elevator onto their floor. "Oh look," Wedge said pointing at the other end of the hall. "Iella got the couch delivered."

The couch was a deep brown and plush. Luke ran his hand over the smooth suede fabric. He sat down next to Wedge. "It's comfortable."

"Even matching tables," Wedge said.

Luke sat quietly for a moment. He was tired again. Being out with Wes and Hobbie had actually felt pretty good, but also exhausting. He looked at Wedge. "I really do need to go back to Yavin tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know." Wedge sounded disappointed. He nudged Luke. "You should come back in a couple of weeks. Maybe every couple of weeks for a few days at a time."

"For what? More coffee dates?"

"Yeah. Or other stuff. Whatever comes up." Wedge shrugged.

"Why?" Luke asked. He still hadn't figured out what all this was about.

"Well," Wedge shifted slightly. "I miss you."

"You do?" Luke said before he could catch himself.

Wedge threw him an annoyed look. "Well, it's not _that_ weird, is it?"

Luke felt his chest tighten with a bit of guilt. "No, of course not. I just - of course not." He hadn't meant for it to come out that way. "I just meant," Luke started fishing, hoping not to make another mistake, "all of this seems connected. The dinner, the coffee, the medical center platform. I don't understand what the connection is."

Wedge dug out his pocket communicator and started fiddling with it. "So, we think we figured out why what happened on the med center platform happened." He handed the device to Luke. "Read this."

"Why won't mean much without the what."

"Just read it."

Luke took it, and turned it around in his hand, expecting some kind of news article. He read the HoloNet page title. Persistent depressive disorder. "Who's this supposed to be about?"

"Read the rest of it."

Luke scrolled through the rest of the page. He could feel his heart rate rising as he read. Fatigue. Irritability. Guilt. Low self esteem. Low concentration. Withdrawal from social activities. "You think this is me?" Luke said. "Is this what you've been telling everyone?"

"Technically, Corran thought of it," Wedge said.

"Corran thought of it… because," Luke struggled to put it together. "Because of what happened on the platform?"

"More or less," Wedge said.

Luke shook his head. "No, that can't be right. That's not, I'm not -" He looked at Wedge. "Well, what am I supposed to do, go to a hospital?"

"Yeah, if you wanted to."

"Are you telling me to?"

Wedge chuckled. "Luke, if there's one person in this entire galaxy I cannot actually make do something, it's you."

"So what _are_ you telling me?"

"I'm _asking_ you to come back here every couple of weeks for a few days. Just to hang out with people."

"Nobody wants me to." Even as he said it, Luke realized he was repeating something that was, in a way, comfortable to think and sounded true to one part of his brain, but also that he knew to be untrue in another part of his brain.

"Well, that obviously isn't true," Wedge said. "I want you to. And I'm sure Wes would be happy to talk your ear off all day, any day."

"Yes...but." Luke glanced back down at the HoloNet page and caught the word "disorder." "What if I actually did go, then what, what if -"

"I'd go with you."

"What?" Luke's disorderly train of thought slammed to a halt.

"I'd go with you," Wedge said again. "You wouldn't have to go alone. You've done enough of that. I don't even know when the last time was you saw a doctor anyway."

"Oh. Yeah." Luke couldn't remember either. He absently scrolled through the HoloNet page again. "Well...okay."

Wedge raised an eyebrow. "Okay...what?"

Luke felt like he was deciding without consciously deciding. "I'll...come back in a couple of weeks. For a few days. That's what - that's what you're asking?"

"Mm hm." Wedge nodded.

"Okay."

Wedge smiled. "Good."

* * *

Luke stepped off his shuttle and onto the Yavin landing pad courtyard. The sun felt warm and the trees smelled good. So much different than Coruscant. He started walking toward the main temple.

"Good afternoon Master Skywalker! Welcome back."

Luke turned to see Sir'ren Choth, one of the more advanced students, waving at him. Luke waved back. "Hi Sir'ren. Have you seen Brianna around anywhere?"

"I think she's in the main control room, working on her training schedule."

"Thank you," Luke said. Sir'ren nodded and walked off toward another group of students. Luke kept walking.

He found Brianna sitting in the control room, using one hand to peruse her training schedule and the other to toss one of her bouncy balls in the air to herself. He stood a couple of meters from her for a moment, but she didn't say anything. "I'm back," he finally said.

"I see." The ball went up, and back down for a clean catch.

"Anything interesting happen?"

"Nah." Up, and back down.

"Any calls?"

"Nah." Up, and down.

"Any visitors?"

"Nah." Up, and down.

Luke paused. "Any strange occurrences of not being able to use threat perception properly?"

A grin spread across Brianna's face. "Aw, who told on me?"

"I...ended up going out to dinner with Wedge and Corran and some others. They told me about it."

" _Whaaaaat_?" Brianna said with mock incredulity. "You went to a _restaurant_?"

"Yes."

"With food?"

"Yes."

"Good food?"

"Yes."

"With people?"

" _Yes._ "

" _Real_ people?"

" _Yes_."

"Do I need to check this with someone?"

"Yes - no," Luke caught himself. "No, you do not need to check this with someone."

Brianna smirked at him as she caught the ball again. "Got you."

"You could have told me about it," Luke said.

"No," Brianna scoffed. "This was clearly the better scenario."

"It sounded fascinating."

"Certainly a good time," Brianna said.

Luke watched the ball go up and back down. It went up again, and his next words were out without even thinking. "I'm proud of you."

"Huh?" Brianna jerked around to look at him, her eyes wide. She missed the ball and it smacked her in the forehead. "Ow! Damn it." She scrambled to grab it before it rolled too far away. Brianna slid back into her chair and turned her attention back to her training schedule. "Yeah, well, you know, it was no big deal. It was just a thing. So, you know, there's that." She absently twisted the ball in her free hand.

Luke nodded once. He watched her for a moment but she didn't turn back to look at him. "I'll ah, I'll just be upstairs," he said.

"Cool, sounds good, I'll be here!"

Luke nodded one more time, paused, then left the control room. He passed through the old hangar and headed up the stairs. He truly was proud of her. She'd always been quick thinking and logical, a skill she usually put towards her biting snark. But even Corran had seemed impressed. That was a first.

Luke passed by the second floor, where his bedroom was, and continued to the fourth floor. He entered his meditation room and inhaled deeply. Coming back into this room always felt a bit like coming home. Comfortable in its familiarity, and it's history.

Still, he suddenly found himself missing Coruscant. Not the _planet_ , of course.

Luke sat on the lower bunk bed. It was the same one from when he'd been assigned the room almost forty years earlier by Alliance Command.

Brianna's fake incredulity that he'd stayed to socialize wasn't entirely off base. Maybe Wedge was on to something. As usual. Luke had tried to think more about that on the trip back to Yavin, but it had been so hard to put a coherent thought together.

Luke looked over at a small trunk sitting along the wall at the end of the bed. He got up, opened it, and started rummaging around. Many times, on his diplomatic trips for Leia, his hosts offered him small gifts. He always felt a bit awkward accepting them, but knew it would be worse if he didn't, so he always tried to be as gracious as possible. One in particular had always intrigued him.

"Ah, there you are."

Luke sat back on the bed and ran his hand over the smooth leather cover. It was a book, a real one with paper pages. He used his thumb to flip through the pages, creating a small breeze. They were all blank. He'd known that. His hosts had told him it was a journal. It even came with an ink-based writing implement. They called it a pen.

Luke twirled the pen in his fingers. He'd only handwritten words once before, ages ago. It was the early post-Endor days when he'd been scouring the galaxy for clues about restarting the Jedi order. On a brief creative whim, he had tried to recreate some ancient texts he'd found, but he hadn't had the patience to stick with it.

Luke pressed the pen into the paper. Slowly, lines became letters, letters became words, and words became sentences. It was meditative, in a way, forcing him to slow down his mind. Finally - he wasn't sure how long it took - he stopped. He held the journal up to look at what he had written.

"Wedge thinks I have depression. This is ridiculous."

And it was ridiculous. Jedi didn't get depression. Of all the texts and artifacts and Holocrons he'd poured through over the years, he'd never seen any such thing.

Still...

Luke set the journal and pen on the bed. Maybe he'd write more tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

Tycho walked through the dining hall, glancing around, looking for Winter. She had come early with Leia, as usual. Winter was probably working and he didn't want to disturb her, but he just wanted to wave and let her know he was there. Part way through the crowd, he spotted a familiar looking brunette woman engaged with someone who looked to be an ambassador or other dignitary. She looked rather unhappy to be where she was, and as the dignitary excused himself, she made no attempt to hide her scowl. Tycho walked up behind her and whispered. "You can't punch everyone in the face, you know."

Brianna turned a softened scowl on him. "Why are you spoiling my fun?"

Tycho smiled a bit. "What are you doing here?"

Brianna brushed some hair out of her face. "I'm here because _someone_ forgot that she told someone else to go take some diplomatic trip somewhere, but _then_ she needed someone to come talk to some diplomat about Jedi training. Which is something I happen to know something about and it sounded vaguely interesting, so I said yes."

"I see," Tycho said. He was fairly certain he knew who each someone was in that story. "Was that the person you were supposed to talk to?"

"Ahhh." Brianna glanced around the room and then gave him a sloppy grin. "Probably not."

"Mm." Tycho nodded. "So what are you doing right now then?"

"Well, I was waiting for someone cool and fun to hang out with."

"Oh."

"And here you are!" She grabbed his wrist. "Come on, let's go find the bar."

"Wait - okay." Tycho let her pull him off in the direction of the mobile bar on this side of the hall.

"Good evening gentlepersons," the serving droid said. "What may I serve you?"

Brianna leaned against the bar. "Greetings! A Toydarian blue ale for me, and," she looked at Tycho. "What are you drinking?"

"Um, just a Corellian whiskey for me."

"And a Corellian whiskey for my friend here."

The droid handed them their drinks. "Have a good evening, gentlepersons."

"Thanks bro, don't work too hard," Brianna called back as they walked away. They found an empty table near a wall and sat. "So what are you doing here?" Brianna asked.

"Oh, I come with Winter sometimes," Tycho said. "She's here helping Leia so when she takes a break, I'm here. And sometimes Wedge and Iella come to these things."

"Mm. That sounds reasonable." Brianna sipped her drink.

"Mind if I join you two?"

Tycho looked up to see Han standing next to him with his own glass of Corellian whiskey. "Not at all," he said, gesturing to an empty seat.

"Welcome," Brianna said. "This is the cool kids table."

Han sat on the other side of Tycho. "I hate these things."

"Yeah, I thought you didn't come anymore," Tycho said.

"Ah, I don't," Han said. "I was supposed to get dinner with Jaina tonight, but something came up at the last minute for her. I was all ready to go out, so I figured I'd come over here." He nodded at Brianna. "I thought you were supposed to be working tonight."

Brianna was scrolling through something on her pocket communicator. She looked up at Han. "I don't know what that is."

Han glanced at Tycho and Tycho shrugged. Tycho glanced around the room again, looking for Winter. She had come several hours earlier and was likely in need of a break soon.

"Can we join you?"

Tycho looked back to see Wedge and Iella approaching the table.

"Welcome," Brianna said. She waved her hand and two chairs slid away from the table. "This is the cool kids table."

Iella nudged Wedge as they sat down. "See, I told you it was the cool kids table."

"Uh huh."

"So what brings you here tonight?" Iella asked Brianna.

"Oh, I thought it might be fun to get drunk and harass people in a more formal setting." Brianna took another sip of her drink.

Iella raised an eyebrow and nodded. "I see."

Tycho chuckled as Wedge shook his head. He wondered how many variations on that answer she was going to come up with tonight.

Brianna set her pocket communicator on the table and turned to look at Tycho. "I have something for you," she said.

"Oh. Okay." He glanced at Wedge, who only shrugged.

Brianna reached into her backpack at her feet and pulled out a small cylindrical tin, about twenty centimeters in diameter. She set it on the table and pushed it towards him. "What's this?" Tycho asked.

"Whiskey cookies."

"You actually made whiskey cookies?" He had thought that was more or less a joke.

"Yes," Brianna said. "Corran can have one."

Tycho pulled the tin toward him. "What? Why only one?"

"It was a good idea," she said, "but not that spectacular."

Tycho started to open the tin. "Are they big at least?" He looked inside. There were about three dozen cookies and each was about five centimeters in diameter. "Oh, they're not even big."

Brianna sighed dramatically. "Oh, I can see you're going to be a whiner. Fine. He can have two."

"What do I do with the rest of them?"

Brianna shrugged. "I don't know. Eat them, share them, whatever you like."

Tycho tasted one. "They're good," he said. "I think you used too much whiskey though."

"There's no such thing as too much whiskey," Brianna said.

Tycho pushed the tin to the center of the table and Han, Wedge, and Iella each took one. "They're good," Iella said.

Tycho glanced around again and this time saw Leia and Winter winding their way through the crowd toward their table. Given what he'd heard about how Leia and Brianna interacted, he was a bit curious and also a bit nervous about how this might go.

"There you are," Leia said as she came up to the table.

"Yes," Brianna said, looking up at her aunt. "This is the cool kids table."

"What are you doing?"

"Well, I thought maybe I'd sit here and get drunk until someone came over to yell at me," Brianna said.

"You're supposed to be working."

Tycho thought he saw a hint of a grin appear on Brianna's face. "Are you yelling at me?" she asked.

"Do I _need_ to yell at you?"

The grin got slightly bigger. "Well, that was a criterion for me to start working."

" _Fine._ " Leia crossed her arms. "I'm yelling at you."

Brianna's grin filled out as she grabbed her backpack and stood up. She waggled a finger at Leia. "And you do such a good job too." She threw a wink at the rest of the table and walked off.

"That child," Leia grumbled. She looked at Wedge.

"What are you looking at me for?" he asked.

"I thought you were the expert."

"Wrong Skywalker," he said. Iella smiled.

"Hmm." Leia looked at the cookie tin. "What are those?"

"Whiskey cookies," Tycho said, pushing the tin toward her. "Want one?"

Leia and Winter each took a cookie. "They're good," Leia said. "Not enough whiskey though." Tycho raised an eyebrow as Iella tried to suppress some laughter. "Come on," Leia tapped Winter on the shoulder. "Back to work."

Tycho exchanged a small wave with Winter as they walked back into the crowd. Iella kept laughing.

* * *

Tycho stifled a yawn. It was getting late and the crowd was thinning out. Leia and Winter had been back to the table times over the past few hours and some attending politicians and diplomats had also stopped by to say hello to Han or Wedge or Iella. But none of them had seen Brianna for hours.

"Are you sure you haven't seen her?" Leia asked again.

"Very sure," Iella said. "I've actually been looking around specifically for her for the last hour or so too."

"Hmm." Leia took a sip of Han's drink, and kept glancing around the hall. "She better be working."

"What is she supposed to be doing, exactly?" Iella asked.

"Councilor Kronen of Utapau wanted to know about Jedi training. She _volunteered._ "

"So, she knows what she's supposed to be doing?"

"Of course she does. She pretends not to because she imagines it's amusing. But she knows. She's obnoxious, not an idiot." Leia took another cookie from the tin. "What are these for, anyway?"

"Brianna's continuing harassment of Corran from our little adventure a month and a half ago," Tycho said. They're a 'reward' for his 'good but not spectacular' idea. I don't even remember what it was though."

"I think swapping Jaina and Cami in our mission groups," Wedge said.

"See, you are the expert," Iella said.

"So these are his?" Leia asked.

"She said he could have one," Tycho said. "I talked her up to two."

Leia snorted. "You're a good friend."

"Leia!"

Leia turned around in her seat. "Councilor Kronen! Oh good, I was hoping to catch up with you before we ended tonight," she said as she started to get up.

The Utpauan held up his hand. "No, my dear, please be seated. I'm sure you've been on your feet all evening."

Leia gracefully returned to her seat. "You're too kind. I trust you had a good evening? My niece was supposed to find you -"

"Ah yes!" Councilor Kronen said. "That's why I came looking for you. I wanted to tell you I had the most _wonderful_ conversation with her! She's quite charming and delightful."

Leia looked like she was about to fall out of her chair, but she recovered quickly and plastered on her most professional, diplomatic smile. "That's...wonderful," she said.

"You must be quite proud of her."

"I'm...speechless," Leia said.

"Hello there!" Brianna popped up next to Councilor Kronen. "We had the best conversation earlier. He asks lots of interesting questions."

"Yes, I was just telling your aunt how charming and delightful it was."

"Oh yes!" Brianna grinned and lightly tapped Leia on the shoulder. "She knows _all_ about that."

Councilor Kronen chuckled. "Yes, I'm sure!" He turned back to Leia. "But I must be off for the evening. Leia my dear, it is always a pleasure."

"Likewise, Councilor. Thank you."

Councilor Kronen nodded to the rest of the table and made his way to the door. When he was far enough away, Brianna poked Leia in the shoulder. "See that? I'm charming and delightful."

"You are the last thing from charming and delightful."

"You all heard him though," Brianna said, pointing around the rest of the table. "You're my witnesses." She looked at Leia again. "Oh, you had a cookie! How was it?"

Leia shrugged. "It was okay."

"Just okay?"

It was Leia's turn to have a bit of mischievous smile. "Not enough whiskey," she said.

"What?! Not enough." Brianna cinched her backpack straps. "That's all right, no big deal, I'll get that next time. I already have an idea about that."

"I'm sure you do." She stood up. "The rest of you, time to clear out."

"Want me to talk to anyone else?" Brianna asked.

" _No_. You are released."

"Freedom!" Brianna sang.

Leia rolled her eyes. "Out."

* * *

Tycho watched Brianna hop along the bannister as he, Wedge, and Iella walked home, a moderately crowded catwalk to her right, and hundreds of meters of empty space to the lower levels of Coruscant to her left. She seemed unperturbed by some of the looks she was getting from other people on the catwalk. Wedge, on the other hand, seemed more than a little anxious.

"Brianna, can you get down please?" Wedge finally said.

"Hmm?" Brianna kept up along the railing.

"Can you get down please?"

"Why, am I making you nervous?"

"Yes, a bit, can you get down please?"

Brianna threw him a mildly irritated look, but dutifully did as she was asked and jumped back down on to the catwalk.

"What did Councilor Kronen want to talk to you about?" Iella asked.

"Oh, he just wanted to know about Jedi training progression," Brianna said. "So I explained a bit about passive sensing versus active manipulation, identifying and filtering ripples, and factors that add complexity, size, distance, that sort of thing. Nothing too complicated."

"I thought size didn't matter," Tycho said lightly. He'd meant it as a joke, but as soon as Brianna turned to him, looking both amused and mischievous, he almost wished he hadn't said anything.

"Are you trying to impress me with things you think you know?" she asked.

"Ahh." Tycho turned to his other side, but Wedge just shook his head. "No," Tycho said, looking back at Brianna.

Brianna's grin got bigger. "Oh, come on now. Clearly you know something. Go on, impress me."

Tycho tried to think of something else he'd heard Corran or Luke say before. "Oh, I know," he said. "The Force has a light side and a dark side and the Jedi use the light side."

Brianna threw her head back and laughed. "Well, that was certainly a worthy effort!"

"I've heard both Corran and Luke talk about that," Tycho said.

"Yes, undoubtedly."

"Do you think it's wrong?"

Brianna turned to face him and started walking backwards. "May I offer you a somewhat...controversial opinion?"

"Okay."

"That's not a real thing."

Tycho frowned. "What's not a real thing?"

"This business about sides. 'Light' side, 'dark' side. Not a real thing. The Force just is."

"I don't understand," Tycho said.

"The Force," Brianna said, "is an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, and penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together. You've probably heard some version of that standard line before, yes?"

"It sounds familiar."

"Good. The Force, therefore, can be described as an energy field or an energy source. I know of no other energy sources that can be divided up by moral attributes. Think about electricity. No one talks about 'light' electricity or 'dark' electricity, right? Because that's dumb. Same with hydropower, solar power, whatever. Energy sources are neutral entities." Brianna held up the hilt of her lightsaber. "In the power cell of this lightsaber is a kyber crystal. You know about kyber crystals?"

"Somewhat," Tycho said.

"Almost every Jedi lightsaber you've ever seen has a kyber crystal in the power cell. Not my father's and if I remember the story right, not Corran's - it's not a requirement. So, what do you think of kyber crystals as an energy source."

"Good, I guess."

"Every Sith lightsaber you've ever seen and thousands you haven't also had kyber crystals in their power cells. Now what do you think of them?" She continued before he could answer. "I'll do you one better. The first Death Star was powered by kyber crystals. Now what?"

"I...see your point," Tycho said.

"Energy sources do not have moral attributes. The Force is not different. It's not like there are two buckets of Force, a light side bucket and a dark side bucket, and you say, 'Oh, I'm going to do good things today, so I'll pull out of the light side bucket' or 'I'm going to do _bad_ things today, so I'll pull out of the dark side bucket.' No. There's only one bucket, and every Force sensitive person has access to the _same_ bucket. The bucket has no moral attributes. Only actions and users do."

"Well, okay," Tycho said. "But if all that's true, then where did the idea come from? And why would everyone else treat it like it's real? I've heard Luke say it, Corran, Leia, Jaina, everyone."

"That's a really interesting question of where it might have come from. I don't actually know, but it's millenia old. Predates the Galactic republic, the Jedi-Sith War, all that stuff. Probably borne out of some propaganda from two opposing sides of Force users, and it stuck. Pro-tip, never believe your own propaganda. As for your second question, the reason you've heard everyone not my father say it is because that's how he taught them. And _he_ says it because that's how he was taught. And my father has a bit of a bad habit of simply repeating things his two lying dirtbag teachers taught him.

"I see," Tycho said.

"I have a bit of a bad habit of thinking for myself," Brianna said.

"Well, that's...not always a bad habit," Tycho said.

"You could be a bit nicer in pointing it out though," Wedge said.

"That is not on the list of things I'm good at."

"What _is_ on the list of things you're good at?" Iella asked.

"Lightsabers and snark. Not necessarily in that order," Brianna said.

"You do pretty well putting them together," Tycho said, remembering her verbal jabs at Corran while they sparred.

"Ah yes," Brianna said, turning back to him. "Here's your lightsaber fun fact for the day. There is a particular lightsaber combat technique called Dun Möch. Ever heard of it?"

Tycho shook his head. "No."

She looked at Wedge. "You?"

"Nope."

"Dun Möch is a technique based around psychological warfare in which the practitioner taunts their adversary, exposing inner doubts and disrupting concentration. It's most effective when the practitioner has some inner knowledge of their adversary and can make it personal." Brianna grinned. "Basically, it's shit talking."

"You made that up," Wedge said.

"I did not! I found it in a Holocron once," Brianna said. "That was one of the most fun days I've had, realizing that one of my favorite things to do is a legitimate lightsaber combat technique." Brianna grinned and nodded.

"I've never seen your dad do anything like that," Wedge said. "And I used to watch him practice."

"Well no, I shouldn't think so," Brianna said. "One, he's way too nice to even be any good at it, among other things."

"I wouldn't call that a bad thing," Tycho said.

"And two," Brianna continued, "it was, traditionally, so I've heard, regarded as a Sith technique. So even if he was any good at it, he probably wouldn't do it anyway." She shrugged.

"And _that's_ not a problem?" Wedge said.

"What's not?"

"That it's a Sith technique?"

Brianna shrugged again. "No, why should it be? The only reason I can find that it was labeled a Sith technique was that Sith happened to use it. I can't find anything inherently bad about it. If it works, why not use it?"

"So, the ends justify the means?" Tycho asked.

"No, ends and means are morally separate, I think," Brianna said. "A tactic can be unjustifiable regardless of whose sports ball team is using it, right? The reverse can also be true. What I'm suggesting is, whose sports ball team is using a tactic shouldn't be the primary reason to throw something out." She held up the hilt of her lightsaber again. "Sith also used lightsabers. Are _all_ lightsabers unjustifiable now? The Empire had spies and an intelligence agency. Are those impermissible?"

"I wasn't arguing with you," Iella said.

"The Empire also had starfighters. Are those not allowed now? And speaking of which," Brianna said, pointing at them, "since I have two of the Rebellion's hottest fighter pilots standing in front of me, are you seriously going to stand there and tell me you never shit talked another pilot?"

Iella laughed. "I think she's got you there."

"You think I don't hang out with Jaina and her pilot friends sometimes? Fighter pilots shit talk people more than _anyone_ I've ever met. It's practically a prerequisite for you people."

Tycho turned to Wedge, who was looking a bit exhausted. "Okay, but aren't Jedi supposed to be different?" he asked.

"No, why?" Brianna scoffed. "Jedi are no different than anyone else. Or at least they shouldn't be. Arguably, one of the reasons the old order became so disconnected from everyday life was because they really did act like they were morally superior to everyone and they knew better how things should go."

"Your dad doesn't do that either," Wedge said.

"You're right, he doesn't. It's one of their bad habits he, thankfully, did not pick up. Again, probably because he's too nice." Brianna's pocket communicator chirped and she pulled it out to look. "Ah, brilliant. The next adventure awaits." She put it back in her pocket and reclipped her lightsaber to her belt. "Kids, it's been fun. We should do this again sometime. Not the diplomat stuff. The rest of it."

"I won't ask so many questions next time," Tycho joked.

"No! Questions are good. You're a good question asker." She waved as she ducked down another catwalk. "Don't stay up too late!"

Tycho looked at Wedge. "Well, that was enlightening."

Wedge shook his head. "She wears me out."

Tycho smiled. "Can you imagine her and Wes in the same room?"

"That is literally the worst idea you've ever had, never say that again," Wedge said. Iella laughed and Wedge turned to look at her. "Did you figure her out yet?"

"I'm working on it," she said.


End file.
